Love's Interruption Read online

  “You want me to handle all the pre-trans?” I asked, giving him a look like that was nuts. We had a ton now, and a lot were not well behaved even from what I knew. But then I thought back to the guy unloading by himself and sighed. “Fine, I can punish them, right?”

  He slowly nodded. “Yeah, what are you thinking?”

  I snorted. “Something evil so none risk fucking with me or slacking off.”

  “Fair enough.” He shrugged and yelled over to a few of the pre-trans to round everyone up after breakfast, as there had been a chance of plans. “I need them back by ten for what’s next on the schedule.”

  I nodded. “Better get breakfast to go then and some outside gear.”

  “Yeah, they’ll need it too.” He changed his orders to get their outdoor gear and meet at the main entrance.

  It made sense for him to specify that since they would need boots with the snow that had come down instead of running shoes and a jacket. I wasn’t sure what they did when they ran the outdoor obstacle courses and honestly, didn’t really care. Wasn’t my thing.

  I grabbed a bunch of breakfast sandwiches and the largest coffee I could before heading out to get what I needed. Normally most of us just jogged over to the main building no matter how cold since it wasn’t that far and yeah, we were vampires so we moved fast, but no way I was going out to the subdivision in a Wyoming winter.

  I was ready before all the pre-trans, so I sent one to get me another large coffee the way I liked it while we waited. I would need it.

  Plus, I was a coffee addict, but it was also cold, so I might blame it on that.

  “We’re going to help unload at the subdivision,” I told them, biting back a smirk when they seemed happy like it was an easier gig than Dimitri’s stations. “I’m not known for having much patience, and that was before I switched to later shift guard duty. But I’m fair. I’ll tell you up front that if I catch you goofing around, you’ll join me on at least one shift no matter how much you need your sleep after full days of training.

  “Twice will be a week. You break anything or are party to any damages, and I’ll have you shovel the entire subdivision… By hand. No snow blower or plow. I’ll sit in a nice, warm cab of one of the plows and watch you shovel all the fucking snow on all the streets, driveways, walkways, and foundations.” I glanced around, noting the open mouths of several. “If I see you slacking off, you’ll clear the whole area with the snow blower.”

  I didn’t wait for them to reply or ask questions, turning and heading that way. They figured to follow, and I heard some nervous mutterings. I wasn’t mean, but I had no patience for people who fucked around at the wrong times or slacked off. I loved pushing people’s buttons and messing with them, but only when I was off the clock or on my time.

  And the pre-trans needed to learn that was how most people felt in life.

  By the time we arrived, I’d inhaled three sandwiches and the first coffee so about halfway done with breakfast… And thinking I would need much more when I saw the line of trailers that were now parked on the street. What the hell were they bringing in?

  “What’s up?” Verge asked me as he nodded behind me.

  “I asked Dimitri if he could send some help to help unload after I caught a guy doing it on his own last night. I didn’t realize it was going to be a ton of trailers.”

  “Yeah, and everyone’s exhausted from getting so much in so fast, and there’s just so much to do.”

  “What is all of this?” I asked, glancing down the row.

  “All the guts of the houses and even new dorm,” he answered. “Or some of them at least. Most of them I think. I’m not sure. I really don’t know the plan.”

  “You okay?” I murmured as I moved closer, seeing the signs of exhaustion.

  “Tired, worried, scared,” he admitted under his breath. “It’s just too much, and I’m worried about Nero.”

  “Yeah, being in charge of all of this is not something I’d want on me.”

  “Amen to that,” he sighed. “For now everything is getting brought into the first floor of the house or garage so we can start sorting what goes where. The trucks need to get back like now.”

  I turned around to the pre-trans. “Pair up and unload the crates.” I checked and saw that everything was shoveled and salt down. “Are floors in yet we need to worry about?”

  “No, not yet. It’s still only all concrete, which I don’t dislike if I’m honest, but it’s not snazzy, and we’re supposed to be all snazzy.”

  “It’s a lot of change, I know. You’re not the only one feeling that.”

  “Yeah?” he checked.

  I snorted. “Yeah, Verge. All of us are.”

  He thanked me for saying that and started directing traffic, seeming relieved that surprising help came. I hurried to finish breakfast and tossed my garbage in the dumpster on the street before rotating out with a pre-trans so they had one round of break. The first trailer was done already and pulling out by the time I came back for the next crate. I waved the guy I had given a break to join me for the next crate so his partner got the break then.

  They seemed to catch on fast what I was doing and didn’t mess around so whoever I waved over to called to cut back in.

  “Those go in the garage,” Verge called over to a pair carrying something that looked like a huge outdoor turkey deep fryer. I didn’t think that was what it was though, and it looked much heavier from the way the guys were struggling. I rushed over and took one end, waving them to double up on the other side.

  “What is this?”

  “It’s a kiln,” one answered me. “Like for ceramics or glass. The art studio at my college had some of these.” He shrugged when we both gave him curious looks. “There were some seriously hot girls in the art department.”

  “Charming,” a voice drawled. I glanced over and saw the guy from last night, noting he did a double take when he saw me. “So you brought the troops?”

  “Yeah, but they have to be back for what’s next in training by ten.”

  He nodded. “You’re not normally in charge of them though.”

  I snorted. “No, I should never teach besides filling in or a class here and there.” It made me seem impatient and sort of a dick, but it was more than that. I didn’t mind teaching the post-trans. I preferred to help them fill in the gaps or tutor, and I had a lot over the years.

  I couldn’t do it with the pre-trans, and that was my issue because not all of them would make it.

  Just like my siblings hadn’t.

  We set down the kiln in the garage, and I told the guys to stretch before we headed back. I bit back a smile when one of the other pre-trans asked me what constituted as “goofing around.”

  “You guys can talk, but pay attention to what you’re doing. Don’t dance around on the salt or be stupid. Behave like you would lifting weights, and don’t distract others or play around.”

  “Okay, just checking,” he muttered, looking relieved. Others seemed to feel the same, and part of me wondered what they had expected for the answer while the other part of me was glad they asked if confused because that was the way to handle it.

  The hot guy was focused behind me as I helped with the next crate, and the only word I could use to describe the look on his face was disgusted. Something was going on that completely disgusted him. He caught me staring and sighed when I set down the crate, waving off the pre-trans.

  “I was told this was a nice place with good warriors.”

  “It is,” I assured him.

  “And the little pissant talking about faggots counts as that?”

  I sighed, yanking off my knit cap and adjusting my neck. “No, we got a bunch transferred in, and more are coming. It’s hard, but they’re just kids and normally spitting out their parents’ bile. We’re working on it.”

  “You have a lot of work ahead of you,” he grumbled, looking back at the pre-trans.

  Well, that clarified his age a bit better for me. He had to be older than me to h
ear what I couldn’t, especially since I was a warrior. I turned on my heel and held off the next group, waiting until all the pre-trans were back at the trailer.

  “Which of you were talking about faggots?” I demanded, staring them all down. I waited several minutes. “No one? You’re not honorable enough to admit it? So you’re too chicken shit to say it to someone’s face or answer the warrior helping your training and to keep people safe?” I saw several giving me pleading looks as if begging me to understand it wasn’t that simple and they would get bullied for snitching.

  Fair enough. I knew that was how it worked. Except they needed to learn that keeping their mouths shut could cost them in life as well.

  “Fine, if no one will confess to their own words or answer when your instructor asks you a question, all of you will be shoveling this subdivision all winter.”

  “You don’t have the authority to mess with our training like that,” one guy worried.

  I shrugged. “Nope, but I can absolutely make you do it before and after your training. You were warned all of us had that power. So get ready to start shoveling at four in the morning so it’s done before your training. If you miss breakfast, well, that’s just because you didn’t move fast enough. Too bad you don’t have food in your—”

  “He said it,” one of our original pre-trans blurted, pointing at one guy in particular. “Screw this. I’m not letting me and my friends go down because you won’t even man up and admit what you said while you’re calling other people fags and saying they’re not real men.”

  I glanced at the kid, seeing the anger I was making this a thing and someone went against him, noting there wasn’t any embarrassment like there should be. “Let’s play a game. First, I promise not to punish you for what you said if you confess.”

  “I said it,” he acknowledged after a few moments and all the stares pushing him.

  I crossed my arms over my chest. “Okay, so we’re going to have a snowball fight and take a break, have some fun. As long as you promise you won’t bully or give people any shit later for which team they pick. Otherwise we get back to work.”

  He had to have felt the excitement at the idea of a snowball fight from the group as I did. After a moment he nodded. “I promise. No shit later. How are we picking teams?”

  “Anyone who agrees with him, be on his team.” I glanced around at the pre-trans. “No punishment from me nor will I snitch on your views. But I want you to think hard on this, not just what you’ve heard or what your parents or family think. Do you really think Dimitri is less of a man for being gay? The guy who is busting his ass to make sure more of you live than the shit outcomes from the camps you came from?

  “How about all of us who stepped up to help him? Four of ten or worse were dying from their transition at your camps. We’re nine out of ten or eleven surviving. The faggots get those sorts of results. We care. So the straight guys didn’t help more survive and didn’t care. We welcomed you and have been helping. How would you have seen that at your other camps? So I’m asking you as adults which team are you on?”

  I wasn’t shocked when people started moving to stand with me. I hadn’t thought it would be so many, but in the end, all of them but that one guy stood with me.

  “You say shit too,” he accused a few other guys.

  “No, no I don’t,” one defended, shaking his head. “Nodding along with what you say is not the same. Originally I didn’t want to come to the homo camp because I thought all gays were like prissy bitches like in the movies and I didn’t know any. But they’re not like that. This camp is way better, and I’ve learned more being here already. Fuck, enough, who cares if they’re gay or straight? I don’t. We have more important things to focus on like surviving.”

  “You promised no retribution,” I reminded the guy, glad when he nodded after glancing around. “We warned you not to spout such bile. I promised I wouldn’t punish you for it even if you deserve it. What I will nail your ass for is the setting. We’ve got a new vamp here helping us, and he’s introduced with your bullshit. No, learn that there are always ears around and no matter what camp you come from, you represent this camp now.”

  I used my power and buried the little shit in snow, making him a pre-trans snowman.

  “Alright, let’s get back to work so we don’t mess up the others,” I ordered, nodding to the trailer. “I’m on the supply run tomorrow, and if you guys make a real dent, I’ll get some extra sleds and innertubes and show you the best place to go sledding this weekend.” That worked, even if it was a bit childish for twenty-four-year-olds. Hey, there was a lot of stress in them. “Who’s Frosty’s partner?”

  A guy raised his hand, shooting a glance over to the guy who was trying to dig himself out of the piles of snow I’d thrown on him. I was careful not to suffocate him, and I wouldn’t let him freeze to death, but the kid was seriously going to be cold the rest of the day.

  And just to be an ass, I did it again once he dug himself out. Everyone seemed to get a kick out of that in the middle of working so hard, so that helped the morale.

  We unloaded all the trailers, which Verge said would be a huge help. I headed out with the pre-trans, disappointed I didn’t catch another glance of the orange haired hottie.

  Which was why I wasn’t surprised I swung back by Nero’s a few times during my guard shift. I traded off with Xana and took his list of what he asked me to pick up on the supply run and chuckled when I realized it was all for Gilroy.

  “You getting shit for not spoiling him?”

  “No, he would never start shit like that,” he muttered, scrubbing his hand over his head. “But I’m a spoiled, spoiled man, and Alastair’s right that we should appreciate that. Gilroy’s always baking me snacks and bringing it to the tower or fuck, I get so many blow jobs, because he hates if I’m stressed, that he’s perfect. It’s not about getting him stuff to show I deserve that, but I know he’s scared to leave the base, so I should help with what he needs.”

  “Thanks for bragging you get head all the time from the guy I used to like,” I drawled, smacking him upside the head when he winced. “Dick.” I headed out without waiting for an answer, noting there were lights in Nero’s garage even if it was after midnight and finding my feet moving on their own.

  The large doors were closed, but I saw the side entrance cracked a bit and ducked in, wondering if it was just left open and someone had forgotten to turn off the lights. Instead, I found the orange haired hottie sitting on a stool as he blew into a pipe and molten glass expanded on the other end like I’d seen before. It was like a demonstration at some museum, and I’d found myself watching the program late one night when my sleep schedule had been off.

  The live thing was way more fascinating. So he must be one of the apprentices of the huge artist that was coming to live in the subdivision and hopefully bring a lot of jobs with him so normal vampires could be safe and work still.

  “I was impressed how you handled the situation earlier today,” he muttered as he flipped the pipe around and then twirled it in some wet newspapers, seeming to shape it.

  “Sorry, I didn’t want to startle you, and I thought maybe someone just forgot to hit the lights.” Then what he said sank in. “Thanks. I’m not the best with the pre-trans.”

  He made a noncommittal noise as if reading something into that. What I wasn’t sure, but I was tired and not looking for trouble by reading too much into what someone did. “So you like someone’s mate?”

  I flinched. “I’m shocked you heard that. We weren’t just at the end of the expansive driveway.”

  “Not much else to hear. The silence is fantastic, but I suppose that will stop soon enough; the goal is to have that. Personally, I would prefer the silence.”

  “Me too,” I admitted. “I love walking the streets, everything beautiful with the snow, the silence and calm seeping into you like the cold.”

  His lips twitched. “So you’re a poet, or are you dodging my question?”

  “Ne
ither. We were sniffing around the same guy, but Xana was more serious than I was, and Gilroy wanted him. No harm, no lingering feelings or issues. It wasn’t meant to be. I just rib him now and again because he’s a dope who forgets that as he brags his mate gives him infinite blow jobs or has sex in places so those of us single stumble over them.”

  “So you’re not jealous who he’s with anymore but that he gets sex,” he muttered as he dropped the newspaper and reached over for some huge and scary looking clippers.

  “Maybe,” I agreed after a moment of watching. “More it’s annoying not to have people considerate of certain things when I am.” I cleared my throat. “I didn’t mean to disturb you.”

  “You’re not,” he assured me. “I’m always working, and when I’m not, I’m fairly cranky unless I’m getting laid or eating. As long as people don’t swing one way or another with yelling or startle me it’s fine. I know many people who come watch to learn and also vent because I’m not the best at retaining either. I listen, comment, but honestly, it’s all gone after I finish working like coming out of a dream.”

  “That sounds nice, peaceful.”

  “Most say selfish and disconnected from reality.”

  “I think that sounds judgmental.”

  His lips twitched again. “I agree. After I finish this, do you want to fuck me?”

  I just stared at him as if looking for some indication he was kidding, but he didn’t seem to be. Okay then. So was I a jerk if I accepted?

  3

  The warrior I’d met amused me. He seemed the love ‘em and leave ‘em kind while floating through life. I liked peaceful and knew it was important to relax, but people who slid through life with a lighthearted attitude pissed me off because they clearly weren’t paying attention to life if they were untroubled. Or they didn’t care, and that irked me too.

  He was hot. I’d give him that. His eyes were gorgeous, and they were all I could think of when I’d started working. The flower was done not long after, and since talking to him this morning, he had no idea it was for him or from me.